Continuity Note: This story is part 3 of 4.
Disclaimer: Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.
Colleen The new slayer and Dawn's teammate
Jordan New kid in Sunnydale who receives The Visions
Dawn Buffy's little sister and now on the basketball team
Aaron Dawn's friend who works at the Magic Box
*****
"You didn't even call!" Xander yelled at me.
"I know," I told him, "I just fell asleep. I didn't mean to."
"We were up all night with worry missy," Anya said to me.
"I'm sorry," I said again, "I just didn't think."
"That's right," Anya said shaking her head, "You weren't thinking."
"Dawn," Xander said, "Buffy wanted us to take care of you because she thought that you would be safest with us. She didn't want anything to happen to you. That's why we worry. We just want you to be safe."
I told them everything that they wanted to hear. I told them how I was irresponsible and it will never happen again. I tell them everything but the truth. I tell them everything except for what I've been doing since school started. They wouldn't be able to handle it. They would try to stop me. I can't let them do it. I have to carry on now that Buffy isn't here. I have to fight the evil. I have to be strong like Buffy.
*****
"I can't believe you guys!" Colleen yells at us. It's Saturday and we are at the Magic Box. Anya has taken the day off and leaves Aaron in charge of the store for the eight hours that it will be open today. Aaron's glad that he's here though instead of being grounded at home. His parents flipped out when he never came home last night.
"We thought we could handle it," Jordan said.
"No," Colleen said, "You guys just didn't want to ruin my date. I mean that was nice of you but also incredibly stupid."
"Now you tell us," Aaron said. Colleen glared at him. "Sorry."
"You're just lucky you guys didn't get killed," Colleen told us. Colleen had really adjusted to being the Slayer well. From what Buffy told me it was definitely a better job at adjusting than she had done. Of course, Colleen wasn't like Buffy before Buffy was called. Colleen was never too concerned with things like fashion. She was more into sports and things like that. She was always kind of a tough girl too. The year after I moved to Sunnydale her mom left. I remember thinking how destroyed I would have been, but Colleen dealt with it very well. Of course, I really didn't exist back then.
"I think what we need to do now is work on figuring out why Martyr would want this book," Aaron said while opening the Omicron. I was so glad that I had Aaron as a friend. He was the first person to make me smile after Buffy died. That's kind of the way he is. He's never really happy unless everyone else is happy. He's always trying to be the center of attention. Plus, he reads as much as I do, so we usually have a lot of stuff to talk about.
"Jordan," Colleen said, "Do you know anything else about this Martyr guy? Anything that might tell us what he would be doing. Like do you think he's the guy who wants to open the Hellmouth?"
Jordan shrugged. "I'm not sure. My guess would be probably though. I mean The Powers That Be did give me a lot of information on this guy so I'm guessing he's the one they are worried about."
Sometimes I wonder if Jordan was like this back in Ohio or if Sunnydale gave him a complete personality change. He's never really told us anything about what life was like back there. I don't think he was into being psychic though back then. He's a quiet person and he usually doesn't talk unless he has something important to say. He also seems to be an idealist. He's always trying to look for the best in people. I wonder if being able to know what people are thinking does to that perspective.
"I would have Willow or Tara read this book to see if there were any clues in it but they're studying abroad this semester," I told the others. Thinking about it though, I probably wouldn't tell them any of this. I don't want anyone to worry about me. I wish I could tell them though. I don't want everyone to think of me as just a kid for my entire life.
Aaron flipped through the pages of the book and skimmed through one every so often. "I think I might be able to read through this. Maybe I can figure out why he wants it so bad." A customer walked in and Aaron at first didn't react, but then remembered that he was working and went over to try and help them.
"So how was the big date?" I asked Colleen.
She smiled. "It was very nice," she said.
"How nice," I pried. "Holding hands nice? Long passionate kiss nice? Hot sweaty-"
"Hey!" Colleen said pretending to be offended. "I am a lady and ladies don't discuss such private matters."
"Bullshit," I said. "You have never been a lady."
Colleen laughed. "You're right. But no, there was no kissing or anything that could pass for either hot or sweaty. But it was still very nice."
I could see Jordan smile. I knew that Colleen saying that made him feel justified about risking his life last night.
"So who's up for some patrolling tonight?" Colleen said, obviously changing the subject.
"Why don't you invite Mike to come along," Jordan joked. "Let him check you out in action."
Colleen smiled but I don't think she was too happy with that idea. Actually I think that might have been the first time that Colleen really thought about that. How was she supposed to have a relationship and be the slayer?
"I don't think that would be a great idea," Colleen said,
"Well I'm free to come," I told her.
"Yeah me too," Jordan said. "My parent thought that I came in when they were sleeping and luckily they slept in this morning."
Aaron had just finished ringing up his customer and came back over to the table. "Have fun on your patrol guys. I might be able to go out again in another month or so."
*****
"The things Aaron gets to miss out on," I say as I struggle against the vampire that was on top of me. Jordan ran from behind him and jumped on his back. He tried to jab the stake in his hand the vamps chest but he didn't push it far enough and it just stuck out from his chest. The vampire looked happy, but then I ran over and pushed the stake in the rest of the way. His smile faded as he burst into dust. I offered Jordan a helping hand once he fell onto the ground. We looked over to Colleen just as she was getting done dusting the last of the vampires.
"So what were we talking about?" Colleen said as she dusted herself off and walked over to where Jordan and I were standing.
"We were trying to figure out what the Omicron is for," Jordan said. "Well, more accurately, we were making wild guesses."
"I'm sticking with a ritual to open the Hellmouth," Dawn said. "It's always about opening the Hellmouth.
"Maybe it's some way to get more power," Colleen suggested.
"From what we saw," Jordan said, "He didn't need any more power."
"I don't know about that," Colleen said. "Did you see the way that I handled those two vamps? I bet I could take him no problem."
"Oh really," a familiar voice said from behind us. We turned at the same time. It was Martyr. "Are you sure about that slayer? I mean, I am right calling you the slayer. No other human could be that overconfident."
"Yeah," Colleen said, getting a tighter grip on her stake, "I'm the slayer. And you're the vampire. I think we all know how this is going to end."
"How it's going to end?" Martyr mocked. "Well that's funny, because even I'm not sure about that. Maybe we should ask your psychic sidekick there. I'm guessing it's going to end with me standing on a pile of your corpses, but you know, I'm not 100% sure about the order from top to bottom of the bodies."
Martyr was different somehow from other vampires. First of all, I have never seen him go into gameface. Not once. Even Angel used to go into his gameface when he was fighting.
Colleen went into her fight with Martyr. They were fairly evenly matched, although I could tell that Martyr was stronger than the average vampire. Usually Colleen had a lot more strength than the vampires she fought but Martyr was different. He could go blow for blow with her. They punched and kicked at each other but no one was really winning or losing.
Jordan and I were keeping a safe distance away from the fight. There's nothing more I wanted at that moment than to be able to help in the fight. Even Jordan had powers, but I had nothing. Of course, that's not exactly true. I am the Key.
I am the Key.
It feels so weird to say that. Like sometimes it doesn't feel like it could be real, but it is. Of course, how do I know that I even am the key anymore? The portal was opened and it was closed. Buffy was gone.
Does that mean that I am still the Key?
I have all these memories that are so real. They are all I know. Even memories that I know for a fact took place after I became human cannot be differentiated from the ones that were definitely created by the monks. In all honesty I don't even know what my first real memory is. I have some guesses, but I don't know. Like, when I first discovered the truth, I knew that it couldn't be true. I just knew it. I knew that there had to be some mistake.
But then, everything started making sense. It was just like the last piece of the puzzle. It was my "ah ha!" moment. The truth was discovered, and what did it tell me? That I wasn't real. That everything I knew was a lie. That everything I am was a lie. That my family was a lie.
But then, they didn't think that. As much as I tried to distance myself from them, they never thought that I was a lie. They loved me till they died. I can still feel their love. I always ask myself how it could all be a lie when I can feel it. When they could feel it?
Somehow, I think that there's more to this. I think maybe there is something that nobody knows. Like shouldn't there be something more to this whole key thing? Shouldn't I have some kind of power? Shouldn't I have some kind of knowledge of all the time before I was human?
Am I even really human? What if one day the spell that made me would just end? What would happen to me then? Would I even still realize that I exist? Would I even realize what existence is?
I just wish I could fill in all the blanks. Get all the answers. It's just so hard to live like this. So hard to keep going when I am unsure of so many fundamental parts of my life. But that goes back to what Buffy told me before she died. The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. I have to be brave. I have to live.
"Trust me slayer," Martyr said form the ground while looking up at Colleen, which broke me out of my daze, "You haven't seen the last of me. And I'm going to get that book back."
"And you're going to end the world," Colleen said. "I've heard it all before. Well, actually I haven't, but I'm sure I will." With that he was off. "I'd say lets go after him, but I think my body might fall apart." Colleen managed to limp over to us and we walked slowly out of the graveyard. "Now I see what all the fuss is about."
*****
"I have to be strong," I thought to myself. "I have to be brave." I walked into the family room where Xander and Anya were sitting. "Xander? Anya?" I said outloud, "I have some stuff I have to tell you guys."
Disclaimer: Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.
Colleen The new slayer and Dawn's teammate
Jordan New kid in Sunnydale who receives The Visions
Dawn Buffy's little sister and now on the basketball team
Aaron Dawn's friend who works at the Magic Box
*****
"You didn't even call!" Xander yelled at me.
"I know," I told him, "I just fell asleep. I didn't mean to."
"We were up all night with worry missy," Anya said to me.
"I'm sorry," I said again, "I just didn't think."
"That's right," Anya said shaking her head, "You weren't thinking."
"Dawn," Xander said, "Buffy wanted us to take care of you because she thought that you would be safest with us. She didn't want anything to happen to you. That's why we worry. We just want you to be safe."
I told them everything that they wanted to hear. I told them how I was irresponsible and it will never happen again. I tell them everything but the truth. I tell them everything except for what I've been doing since school started. They wouldn't be able to handle it. They would try to stop me. I can't let them do it. I have to carry on now that Buffy isn't here. I have to fight the evil. I have to be strong like Buffy.
*****
"I can't believe you guys!" Colleen yells at us. It's Saturday and we are at the Magic Box. Anya has taken the day off and leaves Aaron in charge of the store for the eight hours that it will be open today. Aaron's glad that he's here though instead of being grounded at home. His parents flipped out when he never came home last night.
"We thought we could handle it," Jordan said.
"No," Colleen said, "You guys just didn't want to ruin my date. I mean that was nice of you but also incredibly stupid."
"Now you tell us," Aaron said. Colleen glared at him. "Sorry."
"You're just lucky you guys didn't get killed," Colleen told us. Colleen had really adjusted to being the Slayer well. From what Buffy told me it was definitely a better job at adjusting than she had done. Of course, Colleen wasn't like Buffy before Buffy was called. Colleen was never too concerned with things like fashion. She was more into sports and things like that. She was always kind of a tough girl too. The year after I moved to Sunnydale her mom left. I remember thinking how destroyed I would have been, but Colleen dealt with it very well. Of course, I really didn't exist back then.
"I think what we need to do now is work on figuring out why Martyr would want this book," Aaron said while opening the Omicron. I was so glad that I had Aaron as a friend. He was the first person to make me smile after Buffy died. That's kind of the way he is. He's never really happy unless everyone else is happy. He's always trying to be the center of attention. Plus, he reads as much as I do, so we usually have a lot of stuff to talk about.
"Jordan," Colleen said, "Do you know anything else about this Martyr guy? Anything that might tell us what he would be doing. Like do you think he's the guy who wants to open the Hellmouth?"
Jordan shrugged. "I'm not sure. My guess would be probably though. I mean The Powers That Be did give me a lot of information on this guy so I'm guessing he's the one they are worried about."
Sometimes I wonder if Jordan was like this back in Ohio or if Sunnydale gave him a complete personality change. He's never really told us anything about what life was like back there. I don't think he was into being psychic though back then. He's a quiet person and he usually doesn't talk unless he has something important to say. He also seems to be an idealist. He's always trying to look for the best in people. I wonder if being able to know what people are thinking does to that perspective.
"I would have Willow or Tara read this book to see if there were any clues in it but they're studying abroad this semester," I told the others. Thinking about it though, I probably wouldn't tell them any of this. I don't want anyone to worry about me. I wish I could tell them though. I don't want everyone to think of me as just a kid for my entire life.
Aaron flipped through the pages of the book and skimmed through one every so often. "I think I might be able to read through this. Maybe I can figure out why he wants it so bad." A customer walked in and Aaron at first didn't react, but then remembered that he was working and went over to try and help them.
"So how was the big date?" I asked Colleen.
She smiled. "It was very nice," she said.
"How nice," I pried. "Holding hands nice? Long passionate kiss nice? Hot sweaty-"
"Hey!" Colleen said pretending to be offended. "I am a lady and ladies don't discuss such private matters."
"Bullshit," I said. "You have never been a lady."
Colleen laughed. "You're right. But no, there was no kissing or anything that could pass for either hot or sweaty. But it was still very nice."
I could see Jordan smile. I knew that Colleen saying that made him feel justified about risking his life last night.
"So who's up for some patrolling tonight?" Colleen said, obviously changing the subject.
"Why don't you invite Mike to come along," Jordan joked. "Let him check you out in action."
Colleen smiled but I don't think she was too happy with that idea. Actually I think that might have been the first time that Colleen really thought about that. How was she supposed to have a relationship and be the slayer?
"I don't think that would be a great idea," Colleen said,
"Well I'm free to come," I told her.
"Yeah me too," Jordan said. "My parent thought that I came in when they were sleeping and luckily they slept in this morning."
Aaron had just finished ringing up his customer and came back over to the table. "Have fun on your patrol guys. I might be able to go out again in another month or so."
*****
"The things Aaron gets to miss out on," I say as I struggle against the vampire that was on top of me. Jordan ran from behind him and jumped on his back. He tried to jab the stake in his hand the vamps chest but he didn't push it far enough and it just stuck out from his chest. The vampire looked happy, but then I ran over and pushed the stake in the rest of the way. His smile faded as he burst into dust. I offered Jordan a helping hand once he fell onto the ground. We looked over to Colleen just as she was getting done dusting the last of the vampires.
"So what were we talking about?" Colleen said as she dusted herself off and walked over to where Jordan and I were standing.
"We were trying to figure out what the Omicron is for," Jordan said. "Well, more accurately, we were making wild guesses."
"I'm sticking with a ritual to open the Hellmouth," Dawn said. "It's always about opening the Hellmouth.
"Maybe it's some way to get more power," Colleen suggested.
"From what we saw," Jordan said, "He didn't need any more power."
"I don't know about that," Colleen said. "Did you see the way that I handled those two vamps? I bet I could take him no problem."
"Oh really," a familiar voice said from behind us. We turned at the same time. It was Martyr. "Are you sure about that slayer? I mean, I am right calling you the slayer. No other human could be that overconfident."
"Yeah," Colleen said, getting a tighter grip on her stake, "I'm the slayer. And you're the vampire. I think we all know how this is going to end."
"How it's going to end?" Martyr mocked. "Well that's funny, because even I'm not sure about that. Maybe we should ask your psychic sidekick there. I'm guessing it's going to end with me standing on a pile of your corpses, but you know, I'm not 100% sure about the order from top to bottom of the bodies."
Martyr was different somehow from other vampires. First of all, I have never seen him go into gameface. Not once. Even Angel used to go into his gameface when he was fighting.
Colleen went into her fight with Martyr. They were fairly evenly matched, although I could tell that Martyr was stronger than the average vampire. Usually Colleen had a lot more strength than the vampires she fought but Martyr was different. He could go blow for blow with her. They punched and kicked at each other but no one was really winning or losing.
Jordan and I were keeping a safe distance away from the fight. There's nothing more I wanted at that moment than to be able to help in the fight. Even Jordan had powers, but I had nothing. Of course, that's not exactly true. I am the Key.
I am the Key.
It feels so weird to say that. Like sometimes it doesn't feel like it could be real, but it is. Of course, how do I know that I even am the key anymore? The portal was opened and it was closed. Buffy was gone.
Does that mean that I am still the Key?
I have all these memories that are so real. They are all I know. Even memories that I know for a fact took place after I became human cannot be differentiated from the ones that were definitely created by the monks. In all honesty I don't even know what my first real memory is. I have some guesses, but I don't know. Like, when I first discovered the truth, I knew that it couldn't be true. I just knew it. I knew that there had to be some mistake.
But then, everything started making sense. It was just like the last piece of the puzzle. It was my "ah ha!" moment. The truth was discovered, and what did it tell me? That I wasn't real. That everything I knew was a lie. That everything I am was a lie. That my family was a lie.
But then, they didn't think that. As much as I tried to distance myself from them, they never thought that I was a lie. They loved me till they died. I can still feel their love. I always ask myself how it could all be a lie when I can feel it. When they could feel it?
Somehow, I think that there's more to this. I think maybe there is something that nobody knows. Like shouldn't there be something more to this whole key thing? Shouldn't I have some kind of power? Shouldn't I have some kind of knowledge of all the time before I was human?
Am I even really human? What if one day the spell that made me would just end? What would happen to me then? Would I even still realize that I exist? Would I even realize what existence is?
I just wish I could fill in all the blanks. Get all the answers. It's just so hard to live like this. So hard to keep going when I am unsure of so many fundamental parts of my life. But that goes back to what Buffy told me before she died. The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. I have to be brave. I have to live.
"Trust me slayer," Martyr said form the ground while looking up at Colleen, which broke me out of my daze, "You haven't seen the last of me. And I'm going to get that book back."
"And you're going to end the world," Colleen said. "I've heard it all before. Well, actually I haven't, but I'm sure I will." With that he was off. "I'd say lets go after him, but I think my body might fall apart." Colleen managed to limp over to us and we walked slowly out of the graveyard. "Now I see what all the fuss is about."
*****
"I have to be strong," I thought to myself. "I have to be brave." I walked into the family room where Xander and Anya were sitting. "Xander? Anya?" I said outloud, "I have some stuff I have to tell you guys."